A SCOTS teenager has been locked up in Peru after being accused of trying to fly out with £1.5million worth of cocaine in her ­luggage.

Melissa Reid, 19, and her friend Michaella McCollum Connolly, 20, were arrested as they tried to board a flight to Madrid on ­Wednesday.

Neither of the girls’ families knew they were in South America.

Melissa had gone with pals from her home town of Lenzie, Dunbartonshire, to work in bars and clubs in Ibiza in June.

Belfast-born Michaella had also gone to the holiday island to work as a club hostess before being posted missing in the past ­fortnight.

She had been at the centre of a huge missing person appeal in her native Ireland.

The girls were picked up by drug enforcers in Lima’s Jorge Chavez International Airport, who claim they discovered 11kgs of the Class A drug hidden in food in their bags.

Michaella

Melissa was said to have 18 packets of cocaine, weighing 5.7kg, while Michaella was said to have been found with 16 envelopes of cocaine, weighing 5.8kg.

Now the former Lenzie Academy pupil faces spending her 20th birthday this Friday behind bars.

If found guilty of the crime, the pair could be locked up in Lima’s Santa Monica de ­Chorrillos Prison for female criminals.

Those found guilty of smuggling face between six and 12 years in prison, rising to to between 15 and 25 years for those convicted of smuggling more than 10kg of drugs.

Last night, Melissa’s family said they knew very little about the incident.

Speaking from the family’s £400,000 detached villa on a new estate near Lenzie, Melissa’s 66-year-old father William said: “We don’t know anything, we haven’t been told anything.

“We don’t have any new ­information. We are not in a position to elaborate. We’re in the position where we are just trying to come to terms with it.”

It’s believed that the family haven’t been able to speak to their daughter since her arrest.

When asked if they would travel out to Peru to support their daughter, William said: “It’s too early to say.”

Inside notorious jail in Peru (Image: Getty Images)

A relative of another girl who travelled to Ibiza earlier this summer with Melissa said: “The girls went out four or five weeks ago.

“I don’t know exactly who they were ­working for, I think they were doing bar work. We are just very shocked.

“I found out in the early hours of this ­morning what had happened when I read it online.

“Our girl didn’t know Melissa had been arrested.”

“Her mum is distraught at the moment and heartbroken and she just wants her home.

“No one knew she was in Peru. We thought she was in Ibiza and can’t believe this.”

Melissa was planning on being in Ibiza for the summer after jetting out on June 22.

She told friends she had no plans for work and didn’t expect to find a job straight away.

In May, she updated her Facebook page, saying: “Ibiza for the whole summer. Roll on the 22nd of June.”

Then ahead of her flight out to Ibiza, she admitted: “Not going to lie, scared about going to Ibiza but ­buzzing at the same time. Get me on the flight now.”

Melissa listed her previous work as a sales advisor with Scottish and Southern Energy.

Since her arrival on the party island, Melissa had uploaded almost 300 photos of herself and her friends.

But there have been no updates in almost two weeks.

It is not known when Melissa and Michaella made the trip to Peru, but they were trying to fly back to Palma, Majorca, via Madrid.

Lima airport (Image: Getty Images)

A statement on the National Police of Peru website, updated last Wednesday, said: “Two females of British and Irish nationality were detained by drug enforcement agents of the National Police of Peru, when they tried to take 11kg 590g of cocaine ­out of the country.

“The drugs were hidden in food ­products.

“They were arrested in one of the counters of the airline Air Europa.”

Worried family members of Michaella – who is known to friends as Kayla – launched their desperate bid to find her last week after they hadn’t heard from her in 12 days.

An online publicity campaign was launched and her photo was circulated via social media. Sports stars including Irish rugby player Tommy Bowe backed the campaign.

A spokesman for the Foreign Office said: “We are aware of the arrest of a British national in Peru and we are ­providing consular assistance.”

Santa Monica de Chorrillos Prison is on the outskirts of a slum in Lima and although built for just 230 prisoners, it holds much more, including some of the inmates’ children.

The cramped prison, surrounded by high walls, has no running water and sometimes not even any electricty.

Drugs are rife and food is said to be made up of rice three times a day.

There are around 1000 foreigners locked up in Peru, 90 per cent of them for drug trafficking.

Peru is one the world’s top three ­producers of cocaine, alongside ­Colombia and Bolivia.

In an interview last year, Peruvian judge Rodolfo Pastor said: “This is more of a social issue than a legal one.

“I’ve seen a lot of cases ­involving foreigners and locals recruited to be drug couriers who are ­terminally ill, too young to fully understand the crimes they are committing and, of course, those who do it out of ­necessity.”

A documentary last year revealed most drug mules are paid between £5000 and £10,000 to smuggle up to 10kg of of cocaine.